


cause we're two kids, trying to start a fight

by Hazloveshisboo



Series: We Know Where We Belong [11]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A little bit of angst, Fluff, M/M, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes | Shrinkyclinks, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Steve gets in a fight, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, and when he gets home Bucky yells and is worried, non-explicit catcalling, spitfire Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-13 02:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazloveshisboo/pseuds/Hazloveshisboo
Summary: Steve gets in a fight and Bucky has a lot of things to say about it.





	cause we're two kids, trying to start a fight

**Author's Note:**

> this was a reader request! thank you all for reading and commenting!
> 
> Title from You and Me by Niall Horan

Steve was on his way back home from dropping off a commission. It wasn’t too far from his apartment and he wasn’t due to meet Bucky for another hour, so he decided to walk. He had his earphones in and he was about half a block behind a woman when he noticed a man get up off a set of stairs they passed and follow her. The woman looked behind her every so often, increasing her pace every time she saw the man was still there. Steve reached into his pocket and turned off his music, so he could hear if the man was saying anything and sure enough, he was yelling after the woman, calling her disgusting names and threatening her. Steve yanked the cord to his earphones and shoved them into his pocket. 

“Hey asshole!” he shouted, causing both the man and woman to turn around. The man stopped while the woman gave a fleeting smile as she continued to walk away, turning the corner. 

“Are you talking to me?” the man asked as he stepped closer to Steve.

“Yeah, I was. You have no right to follow a woman like that. She’s just minding her own business, she doesn’t need you calling her names,” Steve said defiantly. 

“Who the fuck do you think you are, telling me what to do?” the man got in Steve’s face, at least half a head taller than him and twice the size. 

“I’m telling you to not be a literal piece of shit on the sidewalk. What were you even going to do? That woman look terrified and she was practically running away from you. Gonna pull her into an alley and rape her?” Steve glared up at him. “The world would be a better place if you dropped dead.” 

“What did you just say, faggot?” the man narrowed his eyes. Steve scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, you caught me, I like taking cock up my ass,” he said and crossed his arms. “What are you going to do about that?” Steve egged him on, raising his eyebrows. The man’s face was red in anger and grabbed Steve by the front of his shirt and dragged him into the nearest alley, using his other hand to punch Steve. His knuckles made contact with Steve’s cheekbone and he dropped the grip he had. Steve stumbled back a bit, but he stayed standing, smirking slightly at the other man.

“Is that all you got?” Steve asked, holding his fists up. The man came at him again and got his jaw, but Steve managed to shove his hand into the man’s nose, hearing a satisfying crunch of cartilage and bone. This only enraged the man and he hit Steve again, almost knocking him over. Steve took a few deep, rattling breaths and stood back up, still panting. 

“I can do this all day,” he declared. The other man just shoved Steve into dumpster and shook his head. 

“Your fairy ass ain’t worth it,” he muttered and turned, walking out of the alley.

“My boyfriend thinks it is!” Steve called after him and wiped his chin and checked his hand for blood – there it was. His lip was definitely split, and he knew his cheek would bruise a mottled purple by tomorrow. Bucky was going to be pissed. Steve wrestled his inhaler out of his bag and took a puff, taking a deep breath afterwards. He shoved it back into its pocket before exiting the alley and making his way toward his apartment. By the time he got there, his lip had stopped bleeding, but his cheek and jaw were throbbing. He unlocked the door and dropped his bag just inside the door. 

“What the fuck happened to you?” Bucky asked furiously. Steve sighed and looked up at his boyfriend making his way across the small room. “Who did this to you?”

“Just some guy, Buck, it’s not a big deal,” Steve said, trying to brush it off. “I’m fine, really.”

“Bullshit,” Bucky snapped and took Steve’s wrist, dragging him to the bathroom. He picked Steve up and set him on the pedestal sink, opening the medicine cabinet and pulling out a bottle of antiseptic and cotton balls. “What happened?” he asked again, soaking one of the cotton balls. He dragged it over Steve’s lip carefully, brows furrowed. 

“Some douchebag was catcalling this girl and following her, I told him to stop and he didn’t like it,” Steve shrugged. “I’m fine, Buck. Just a few scrapes and bruises, really. I’ll be all healed up in a week.” 

“That’s not the point, Steve,” Bucky shook his head. “How big was this guy, huh? I’m guessing at least double your weight, half a foot taller? You can’t just punch every asshole you come across.” 

“He punched me first,” Steve said petulantly. “And what was I supposed to do? He was following her, and she looked scared out of her mind!” 

“Call the fucking police, call me even. You can’t just yell at anybody on the street, you can never know if they’re carrying. He could have had a knife or a gun and then where would you be? Bleeding out in some back alley of Brooklyn,” Bucky chastised him, dabbing Steve’s lip with a piece of toilet paper. 

“I know you don’t think I can take care of myself-” Steve started.

“Excuse me? Where the fuck did you get that idea?” Bucky asked, setting his glare on Steve. “I think that you need to play to your strengths, okay? Everyone can protect themselves, but they need to know how. You’re going to fight differently than me because I’m almost a foot taller and more than double your weight. My center of gravity is different. You also have asthma, so you have different hinderances than I do. And you also need to learn to pick your battles. I know that guy was an asshole, but you could have done a number of things instead of provoking him.”

“How do you know I provoked him?” Steve asked. 

“Because I know you, you have to have the last word,” Bucky said as he pulled an ointment from the cabinet. He rubbed it into Steve’s cheek where he was sure it was already starting to bruise. “Let me to teach to fight. Please, for my own sanity.” 

“Fine,” Steve agreed and rested his head on Bucky’s hand. “I’ll let you teach me to fight.” Bucky nodded and picked Steve up, carrying him back out to the couch and setting him down. 

“What did you say to set him off?” Bucky asked as he went to the fridge and pulled out an ice pack. He wrapped it in a tea towel and handed it to Steve before dropping onto the couch next to him. Steve bit his lip and looked up at Bucky. 

“He called me a faggot, so I asked him what he was going to do about it,” he said nonchalantly. Bucky narrowed his eyes. 

“What did you really say?” he asked.

“…I asked him what he would do about me liking cock up my ass,” Steve mumbled, refusing to meet Bucky’s eyes. 

“You said what?” Bucky’s enunciated every word, his hand frozen on Steve’s thigh. Steve pursed his lips. “Why the fuck would you say something like that?” Bucky was on his feet and pacing the short length of the room. “You knew saying something like that would only antagonize him! Do you not have any sense? Or self-preservation? It’s like you like getting punched!” Steve watched as Bucky continued, walking and lecturing. He finally stopped and looked right at Steve. “Well? Do you have anything to say?” 

“I couldn’t just do nothing, Buck,” Steve said softly, looking up at his boyfriend. “There’s a lot of shit in this world and if I can do one thing to make it better, I have to.” Bucky sighed and stopped with his hands on his hips. 

“I know you can’t, and that’s not a bad thing. I love that about you actually, and it makes you special because most people just look the other way. But you stand up and fight and that worries me, doll. I hate seeing you hurt and in pain. Especially if I could have helped,” Bucky explained as he sat down next to Steve on the couch. 

“I don’t want or need you to fight my battles for me, Buck,” Steve said, moving closer to Bucky. “Just because I’m small-”

“Doll, I’m not asking or wanting to fight your battles for you. I know what you’re capable of and what you’re going to do. But all you had to do was send me a text and I would have been there to help you,” Bucky said. “I’m not pitying you or looking down on you. I know very well what your body can do. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met but that doesn’t mean you aren’t breakable, especially physically.” Steve huffed and crossed his arms. 

“…I know that I’m fragile, that my bones break easier. But if I had lived my entire life in fear of what might happen to me because my body is weaker than the average human, I would have never have left my house, or ever my bedroom,” Steve said quietly, looking down at his lap. “And that’s what those guys see when they look at me. Some weak little boy who can’t fight for himself. That’s not me, Buck, you know it’s not. My mom once told me that once you stop running you don’t ever stop.” Bucky just watched him for a long moment before hauling Steve into his lap. 

“I don’t want you to change. I love you just as you are, Steve. A self-sacrificing asshole who doesn’t know when to back off or ask for help. I’m not asking you to change. I’m asking to you to, when you’re yelling at these dicks for being awful human beings, spare a little thought to who your boyfriend is and what I can do to help you,” Bucky said softly, his hands on Steve’s hips, just under his shirt. “Please?”

“Yeah, Buck, I’ll work on it,” Steve finally relented and leaned forward, tucking his head into Bucky’s neck. “I’m sorry I’m shit at talking about my feelings.” 

“It’s alright doll,” Bucky laughed. “I can do enough of that for the both of us. As long as you tell me the big stuff, I don’t mind you not telling me everything. Lord knows you don’t know everything about me.” 

“It’d be so much easier if you could read my mind,” Steve complained. “Then I wouldn’t have to talk about my feelings and emotions and stuff.”

“I don’t know, sugar, I can tell what you’re thinking most of the time anyway. You’re kind of an open book. At least to me,” Bucky said and grinned. 

“Oh, am I?” Steve sat up and looked at Bucky. “How do you do that?”

“You’re very expressive when you’re not guarding yourself. And you don’t guard yourself around me, not anymore,” Bucky said. “You did for the first four months we knew each other and then you slowly started letting more of yourself show. And that’s right around the time I truly started realizing just how I felt about you. But I think that’s more of a coincidence than anything.” Bucky smirked and licked his lips.

“Shut up,” Steve rolled his eyes and pushed himself off Bucky’s lap, standing from the couch. “I’m going to start dinner.” 

“No, you’re not,” Bucky protested immediately. “We’re getting take-out and you’re going to sit down and hold that ice to your face.” 

“Fuck you, Barnes, you can’t tell me what to do,” Steve muttered but sat back down on the other end of the couch, slumping against the arm of the chair. “I get to pick what we watch.” 

“Of course, you do,” Bucky said and tossed the remote onto Steve’s lap as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Burgers sound good?” 

“Sounds perfect,” Steve scrolled through Netflix as Bucky called in their order and once he had hung up, Steve pushed his foot under Bucky’s thigh to get his attention. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “For looking out for me.” 

“Nothing to thank, doll. I’m with you to the end of the line, remember?”

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://hazloveshisboo.tumblr.com/tagged/stucky)
> 
> as always, if you have any requests just leave it in a comment or message me on tumblr!


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